


“A Journey Through Time” Is Not a Bedtime Story

by The Terror of My Ways (sealandreich)



Series: Other Things Become Important [2]
Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: Charlotte as a youngster, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28019073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sealandreich/pseuds/The%20Terror%20of%20My%20Ways
Summary: H.G. Tannhaus is in the middle of reading “A Journey Through Time” when his young granddaughter declares that she isn’t able to fall asleep.
Relationships: Charlotte Doppler & H.G. Tannhaus
Series: Other Things Become Important [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952821
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9
Collections: Doppler-Tannhaus Collection





	“A Journey Through Time” Is Not a Bedtime Story

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the mid to late ’70s.
> 
> H.G. Tannhaus has made several copies of “A Journey Through Time” for reading and taking notes in the book. He has removed anything clearly anachronistic from these copies, such as the 1986 publishing date and the picture of himself on the back. The original manuscript is safely stored away.

H.G. Tannhaus was in the middle of reading _A Journey Through Time_ , the book he was determined to understand one day, when he heard Charlotte tromping down the stairs. 

“It’s past your bedtime, kiddo,” he said.

“I can’t fall asleep,” she declared.

Not looking up from his book, HG said, “How about you go back to bed and try to fall asleep again, and then if you can’t fall asleep after fifteen minutes, you can come down here and get me.”

“Grandpapa,” Charlotte complained, grabbing the book out of his hands, “I can’t fall asleep!”

“Maybe you’ll be able to fall asleep if you try,” said HG, taking the book back from her.

Charlotte groaned and walked away. HG resumed his reading.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Charlotte reach for one of the many clocks that lined the shelves. He supposed that she was going to move it forward fifteen minutes. Obviously he wouldn’t fall for that, but it was cute that she thought he would.

A moment or two later his reading was interrupted by the loud ringing of an alarm clock. HG sighed and said, “Aren’t you clever.” He took the alarm clock out of Charlotte’s hands, turned the alarm off, set the clock back to the correct time, and put it down on a higher shelf, out of his granddaughter’s reach. Then he turned to her.

“Alright, alright, I’ll pay attention to you,” HG said, picking Charlotte up. “What would help you go to sleep, dear girl?”

“If I knew I would’ve told you.”

“I’ll carry you back to bed,” he said, walking toward the stairs.

“No, that won’t work,” Charlotte protested. “I already tried to go to sleep and I couldn’t!”

HG kept walking and reached the staircase.

“Grandpapa, I said that didn’t work before and it won’t work this time! You’re not helping!”

HG sighed and turned away from the stairs. “Alright, I’ll try to think of something.” After some thought he said, “What if I read something to you?”

Charlotte shook her head. “Doesn’t help. I’ll try to stay awake to hear the ending, or I’ll try to guess what’ll come next, or I’ll come up with better endings in my head.”

“Are you sure about that? It wouldn’t be anything entertaining or interesting. No, the book I have in mind could bore anyone to sleep, even me.”

Charlotte didn’t say anything. But she wasn’t rejecting the idea, so HG decided it was worth a try.

“See that book on my desk right there?” he said. “Can you grab it for me?” 

Charlotte nodded and picked the book up as he walked by the desk.

“What’s it called?” she asked.

“ _A Journey Through Time_.”

As HG carried her upstairs to her room, Charlotte opened the book and looked at a few pages. “It has a few pictures in it,” she said.

“Believe me, it’s still very boring, even if there are a few pictures here and there.”

“What’s it about?”

“General relativity, quantum mechanics, and complicated things like that,” HG said. They reached her room, and HG set her down. “You’re not going to understand any of it, but that’s the point. It’ll be even more boring to you.”

As she climbed into bed, Charlotte asked him, “If it’s so boring, then who’d want to write about that stuff?”

HG smiled. “No more questions tonight, kiddo, or neither one of us will get any sleep. But maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

He opened the book up, but before he began to read, he let his eyes rest on a certain page, just for a moment. When he had received _A Journey Through Time_ all those years ago, the 1986 publishing date was not the only thing that had shocked him. There was another shock: the dedication, “For my granddaughter Charlotte.” HG looked over at his granddaughter, who was waiting for him to start reading to her. Perhaps this was the purpose of _A Journey Through Time_. Instead of a puzzle piece in a puzzle none could fathom, affecting people in ways unknown, perhaps it was meant to be something simple, something for the person nearest and dearest to him.

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a drabble and I ended with something several times longer. I thought about posting this as a chapter in “Clock-Making and Bird-Collecting” but decided against it, since this would be at least twice as long as a usual. I hope this isn’t a violation of drabble/flash fiction etiquette.


End file.
